Buddhism

Joshu Jushin, also known as Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen (778897), was one of the great Ch'an (Zen) masters of ancient China. It is said of Joshu that his "lips emitted light" because his manner of teaching was to speak words that so… Read More

Eleven Classic Koans and Their Inner Meanings

Koans are at the very heart of Zen practice; this collection of informal koan talks will bring the Zen student into the presence of Roshi Philip Kapleau, the famous author of The Three Pillars of Zen . The talks… Read More

Zen Comments on the Mumonkan

For more than seven centuries the Mumonkan has been used in Zen monasteries to train monks and to encourage the religious development of lay Buddhists. It contains forty- eight koans, or spiritual riddles, that must be explored during… Read More

This collection of essays and lectures by D. T. Suzuki (18701966) covers a wide range, from Mahayana Buddhism generally and the Zen school in particular, to Japanese art and culture, to the relationship between Zen Buddhism and Western psychology. Suzuki,… Read More

The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Dogen

Enlightenment Unfolds is a sequel to Kaz Tanahashi's previous collection, Moon in a Dewdrop, which has become a primary source on Dogen for Western Zen students. Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) is unquestionably the… Read More

Manifesting Zen Insight

Dainin Katagiri (19281990) was a central figure in the transmission of Zen in America. His first book, Returning to Silence, emphasized the need to return to our original, enlightened state of being, and became one of the classics… Read More

Zen Journals 1969-1982

In August 1968, naturalist-explorer Peter Matthiessen returned from Africa to his home in Sagaponack, Long Island, to find three Zen masters in his driveway—guests of his wife, a new student of Zen. Thirteen years later, Matthiessen was ordained a Buddhist… Read More

For all its emphasis on the direct experience of insight without reliance on the products of the intellect, the Zen tradition has created a huge body of writings. Of this cast literature, the writings associated with the so-called Five Houses… Read More

The Heart of Zen

Kensho is the transformative glimpse of the true nature of all things. It is an experience so crucial in Zen practice that it is sometimes compared to finding an inexhaustible treasure because it reveals the potential that exists in each… Read More

The Zen Teachings of Maurine Stuart

Maurine Stuart (19221990) was one of a select group of students on the leading edge of Buddhism in America: a woman who became a Zen master. In this book, she draws on down-to-earth Zen stories, her friendships with Japanese Zen… Read More

A Commentary on Zen Master Dogen's Genjokoan

Written by the founder of Japanese Zen, Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), the Genjokoan is often considered to be the key text within Dogen's masterwork, Shobogenzo. The Genjokoan addresses in terse and poetic language many of the perennial concerns… Read More

On Buddhism and Zen

Dream Conversations is a collection of a renowned Japanese master's written replies to questions about the true nature of Zen. In short, simply worded teachings, Muso Kokushi (1275-1351), also known as Muso Soseki, exposes common misconceptions with unprecedented clarity,… Read More

Hakuin's Commentary on the Heart Sutra

Hakuin Zenji (1689-1769) was one of the most important of all Japanese Zen masters. His commentary on the Heart Sutra is a Zen classic that reflects his dynamic teaching style, with its balance of scathing wit and poetic… Read More

The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa

Endless Vow is the first English-language collection of the literary works of Soen Nakagawa Roshi. An intimate, in-depth portrait of the master of Eido Tai Shimano, his Dharma heir, introduces the poems, letters, journal entries, and other writings of… Read More

One Hundred Stories of Enlightenment

Throughout Zen history, stories and anecdotes of Zen masters and their students have been used as teaching devices to exemplify the enlightened spirit. Unlike many of the baffling dialogues between Zen masters preserved in the koan literature, the stories retold… Read More